The Darkest Song From 'The Lion King' Was Based On A 1935 Nazi Propaganda Film

This year marks the 20th anniversary of one of the most successful animated films ever made, Disney’s “The Lion King.“

When the film first debuted in 1994, the film’s themes of death, betrayal, and rebirth made it a pretty adult Disney movie.

One of the film’s most adult scenes is when the evil lion Scar sings about his plan to murder his brother and king of the pride, Mufasa, in the song, “Be Prepared.“

Yet, what most people don’t realise is that the film’s animators based much of the scene on a 1935 Nazi propaganda film titled “Triumph of the Will” that documents 1934 Nazi Germany.

According to an Entertainment Weekly article back in 1994, the song “grew out of one sketch by story staffer Jorgen Klubien that pictured Scar as Hitler. The directors ran with the concept and worked up a ‘Triumph of the Will’-style mock-Nuremberg rally.”

For example, the goose-stepping soldiers in “Triumph of the Will” march in formation through Nazi Germany.